The present invention relates to systems and methods to improve analytic tools used in contexts such as wireless power and energy system or scenario analysis, systems for reducing a variety of errors in collaborative or distributed research activities, systems useable to enable enterprise standardizing procedures across multiple design locations and teams, and enabling human-machine interface based cognition associated with such power and energy analysis which improves or creates rapid insights into a variety of power and energy scenarios. In addition, present invention includes a dynamic library that has the ability to save and apply user-generated data. Exemplary systems can include dynamic wireless power/energy transfer system apparatus MSAV systems enabling rapid and improved understanding of effects of performance and design relationships on operational scenario suitability, design reliability, and design functions including input systems, user interfaces, computation systems, libraries, analysis, reconfigurable graph systems, design constraint violation warnings enabling dynamic changing, comparison, viewing, and comprehension of multiple performance and design relationships along with related methods of use within design and manufacturing tasks.
When doing MSAV analysis and design effort, a variety of problem have been encountered which have led to significant rework, uncertainty as to whether or not a given design will or will not operate in a given environment and design element combination, and miscommunication or confusion when evaluating designs created by different design teams which are using different design methodologies or varying ways to compute different performance or efficiency predictions for a given design/environment combination. A result of these problems includes creation of unworkable designs that suffer from a range of engineering or system integration failures ranging from inoperability in a given set of operational conditions to burn out or component failure. A variety of reasons for these failures have been identified including design methodologies and systems that do not enable designers or engineers to effectively balance a significant number of performance, design, operational need, component limitations within a system, and constraints in a way that support cognitive function and understanding on the part of designers and users. For example, a designer can create a system which violates a design boundary constraint arising from a particular combination of design variables and constraints (including environmental or mission related) without realizing they have done so. Moreover designers can be overwhelmed with too many potential choices without understanding which one of a particular combination of design choices will be more effective in a given set of operational, component performance/limitations, and design environment. There is also a lack of a system which creates visualizations which are useful as an aid for imposing bounds on their design to inform design choices to constrain possibilities to what is possible. For example, a designer might come up with a functional system that may suffer from too much or too little power due to a lack of understanding of how that system will function or be employed by a user in a given set of conditions.
Therefore, a need exists to provide a set of solution to these problems which includes creating a system to enable visual and dynamic correlation of a number of constrained or boundary limited parameters which eliminates the need to create numerous different designs and design performance analysis data which require a designer to flip back and forth between thereby losing critical correlations between design choices and various constraints for a given set of applications, environments, and designs.
Generally, an embodiment of the invention enables visual comparison of different design variations by providing, among other things, a visualization, simulation, and analysis capability. In part, aspects of at least one embodiment provide simulation and visualization outputs through association of efficiency based on both currently measured or previously measured data for one or more design elements (e.g. diode, rectenna performance). Another aspect of at least one embodiment provides a visualization which enables a view of direct current (DC) power into or out of a specified component as a function of different parameters. In at least one embodiment, once an output of a selected rectenna and diode system within independent and dependent variables is known and that selected design does not violate one or more boundary conditions, a designer will then know that the proposed design meets various operational and design constraints then can proceed to follow on design tasks.
According to an illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure, a wireless power/energy system modeling and simulation (M&S), analysis, and visualization system and related methods is provided. Exemplary embodiments include a design element input section adapted to receive user input design specifications including element performance and constraints/limits including design element variables, design build section to enable users to select or include one or more of the design elements create a system of design elements, a variable control section that enables visual locking or fixing of one or more variables to enable modeling or simulation of dependent and independent variables. Exemplary embodiments are used to generate visualizations that aid in understanding parameter influence on and correlations with design vs performance/behavior as well as visualization design parameter selection restrictions or limits that present constrained capacity to change parameters based on real world limitations of selected design components, component relationships, and other design factors to set limits on user options to change parameters. Embodiments also enable failure mode analysis using visually selectable parameter limits alterations and dynamic performance or design limit alteration of other limits based on one or more limit relationships.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.